Another politician criticizes MTA for something they can’t control

It’s becoming clear that the key reason that the MTA suffers from a lack of state and city funding is a lack of understanding among public officials. Last week, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther blamed the MTA for the failure to place tolls on East River bridges – an issue that was squarely the responsibility of the state legislature.

Yesterday, City Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. (D-Astoria) blamed the MTA for something else that the agency has absolutely no control over: union salaries. Per today’s Daily News:

Protesters held up signs that read “Save Our Subways” while Vallone chided the MTA for granting an 11.3% raise to its workers over three years.

“You can’t give raises and then cut services. It’s Business 101, and they failed it,” said Vallone.

Of course, Vallone would never fault the union for asking for and receiving such a raise in a recession, since merely criticizing unions is taboo among Democrats. Vallone prefers to entirely rewrite how labor negotiations work and claim that the MTA “gave raises” to TWU workers.

Vallone also fails to mention that non-union workers – including the MTA’s top executives – are taking a 10% paycut in 2010 to cover part of the budget gap left by higher blue-collar wages and a cut in state aid. The councilman may have conveniently left this out this fact, but considering his lack of understanding about arbitration, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if he didn’t even know.

Beyond all this, Vallone claimed that the city can’t do anything about the MTA’s cuts:

“A lot of people think that the city officials have control over this, but we don’t,” said Vallone (D-Astoria). “What I can do is speak out for my district, and that’s what I will continue to do.”

Vallone seems to miss the fact that the city controls a portion of the funding provided to the MTA. Coincidentally, the city’s $159 million tithe for transit operations has been virtually unchanged since the mid-90s. If the services provided to the MTA are so important to his district, why isn’t Vallone suggesting that the city step up their funding of the MTA? That’s certainly within his control. And on the same day that Vallone said the cuts are out of the city’s hands, Council Speaker Christine Quinn suggested that the city could cover the cost of Student Metrocards that the MTA can no longer afford to subsidize.

As long as the ill-informed have their hands on the money that funds the backbone of New York City’s economy, the MTA will be a New York politician’s favorite punching bag.

About the Author

Chris O'Leary is a transportation geek who has been reading and drawing maps since the age of 3. He thinks he knows far more than he does, but shares his somewhat informed opinions about mass transit, roads, and urban design here. He was born in Rhode Island and lives in New York City. He hates writing about himself in the third person.